In Search of Rafik Schami's "Kameltreiber von Heidelberg"

Abstract

The Arabic-German storyteller and fiction writer, Rafik Schami, has won two dozen literary prizes for his prose, which includes nine books, short story collections and novels, that have been translated into more than twenty languages (Kupke). This success seems particularly well deserved because of his hard work on behalf of other minority writers in Germany. Shortly after immigrating in 1971, Schami was well integrated into the corps of Germany's minority writers and worked together with Franco Biondi, Jusef Naoum, Sulemann Taufiq and others to found the writers' alliances Polykunst and Sidwind, which published thirteen anthologies of Gastarbeiterliteratur between 1980 and 1985 (Rafik Schami).1 His early success was due in large part to his activity as a storyteller, an art that he has nurtured with tremendous zeal (Zimmermann). Schami learned the art of storytelling in his hometown of Malula, a small Christian enclave just outside the city of Damascus, Syria, a community in which storytelling was virtually the only form of entertainment. Such is the discrimination against Christians that the village was cut off from virtually all forms of entertainment, media, and communication that might have lead a young man out of a small town, which gave Schami ample time to develop his talent. In Germany, he brought astonishing energy and commitment to this activity, once squeezing in 52 performances between November iand Christmas. (Rafik Schami). Sadly for those of us who have not yet heard him, he has discontinued this activity. In his words: